Video above: Watch – Live Now, Pay Later (1962) Complete Film

Live Now, Pay Later (1962)

Live Now, Pay Later is a 1962 film starring Ian Hendry, John Gregson and June Ritchie that takes a dark comic look at the ‘affluent society’ (a phrase introduced by John Galbraith’s 1958 book of the same name).

Based on the book, by Jack Trevor Story which was part of the Albert Argyle trilogy (Live Now, Pay Later, Something for Nothing and The Urban District Lover).

Film Synopsis
Live Now, Pay Later is a comedy-drama by director Jay Lewis and scripted by Jack Trevor Story, is about an unscrupulous salesman, Albert Argyle (Ian Hendry) is beset by a whole series of problems, all of his own making. In order to advance his career, Albert has a habit of seducing his female customers to better convince them to buy beyond their means, on credit.

Picture above: Ian Hendry and June Ritchie experience the joys of parenthood!

Watch – Live Now, Pay Later (1962) Complete Film

Video: Watch Complete Film – Live Now, Pay Later (1962) – or until Youtube takes any kind of copyright action! Click icon in controls for full screen viewing.

The Radio Times Guide to Films gives it 4 stars out of 5, and describes it as:

“…a remarkably cynical and revealing portrait of Britain shifting from postwar austerity into rampant consumerism and the Swinging Sixties”

For a good review of the film, I can recommend this thoughtful article which I discovered recently on the British 60s Cinema website:

See: Live Now Pay Later – British 60s Cinema

Picture: Original 45rpm single – Doug Sheldon. Different version to films opening titles song. To listen click here

Author – Jack Trevor Story

Picture: Jack Trevor Story

As a writer, Story stated that he regularly wrote 4,000 words a day and took only two or three weeks to finish a novel; he even wrote one in just 10 days. Often he was seen with many glamorous women, which amazed his many friends and acquaintances, and for which he gained a reputation.

His domestic life was chaotic, owing to his serial infidelity and bankruptcy; this often provided the inspiration for his work. He was from a working-class background and was essentially self-taught as a writer, basing his approach on that of his idol William Saroyan.

Jack Trevor Story (30 March 1917 – 5 December 1991) was a British novelist, publishing prolifically from the 1940s to the 1970s. His best-known work is the story for Alfred Hitchcock’s comedy The Trouble With Harry, the Albert Argyle trilogy (Live Now, Pay Later, Something for Nothing and The Urban District Lover), and his Horace Spurgeon novels (I Sit in Hanger Lane, One Last Mad Embrace, Hitler Needs You).

When he was penniless in the 1970s he moved to the then new town of Milton Keynes, where he was given a flat about the Museum of Rural Life. He meant to stay only one year, but remained there for the rest of his life.

Story was married three times, was divorced once and had eight children. Two of his wives predeceased him.

Although his works never reached a wide audience, he was respected by many in the media. He wrote a weekly column for The Guardian in the 1970s, and appeared on TV in the series Jack on the Box in 1979. He wrote several screenplays, including the TV play Mix Me a Person, and the film version of Live Now – Pay Later. His final broadcast was an audio diary, Jack’s Last Tape.

The Trouble with Harry

Alfred Hitchcock had read Jack Trevor Story’s short comic novel “The Trouble with Harry” when it was published in 1949 and considered it would make a good black comedy. Directed by Hitchcock with the screenplay by John Michael Hayes it starred Edmund Gwenn and John Forsythe; Shirley MacLaine and Jerry Mathers co-starred, both in their first film roles.

See: The Trouble With Harry – Article on The Hitchcock Zone

Film Synopsis

Trouble erupts in a small, quiet New England town when a man’s body is found in the woods. The problem is that almost everyone in town thinks that they had something to do with his death.

Video: Trailer – The Trouble With Harry

Pre-Production
After the box-office success of Rear Window and the glossy To Catch a Thief, Paramount were seemingly doubtful of the commercial appeal of the story and the budget was set at a modest $1,000,000 — less than a third of the budget of To Catch a Thief.

Grace Kelly was initially approached for the role of Jennifer, but a contract dispute with MGM meant she would be unavailable. Hitchcock also considered the French actress Brigitte Auber — who had played the role of Danielle Foussard in To Catch a Thief — but her accent was a cause for concern.

Although the film performed disappointingly at the US box office — it was the only one of Hitchcock’s Paramount films that failed to generate a domestic profit on initial release — it proved extremely popular in England and France, where the black humour was more appreciated.

In his biography on Ian Hendry, Gabriel Hershman paints a vivid portrait of Jack Trevor Story, the background to the film – Live Now, Pay Later – and his lack of commercial prowess which ultimately led to his financial downfall:

…As The Guardian pointed out in it’s obituary of Story, ‘anyone who could sell the sole rights in the Trouble With Harry to Alfred Hitchcock for 150 pounds was destined for the breadline’.

Until next time.

Best wishes

Neil Hendry
Editor, Official Website of Ian Hendry

Further Reading

A detailed account of the life and work of Ian Hendry in the new biography:

Read:  ‘Send in the Clowns – The Yo Yo Life Of Ian Hendry’ by Gabriel Hershman